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Russia’s space agency hoped to launch its own orbital station in 2025 .
- Russia recently celebrated its proud history in space, marking the 60th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin for becoming the first human to go into orbit.
Probable Reasons for Announcement
- The announcement came with tensions soaring with the West.
- Relations between Russia and the US and several European countries have also deteriorated .
- Russia had a monopoly on manned space flight but last year Nasa astronauts were taken to the ISS via a capsule belonging to Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
- Russia’s agreement with international partners runs out in 2024.
International Space Station (ISS)
About
- The International Space Station (ISS) is a space station, or a habitable artificial satellite, in Low Earth Orbit (approximately 250 miles above Earth).
Launch
- The first piece of the International Space Station was launched in 1998, since then it is evolving.
- NASA and its partners around the world finished the space station in 2011.
- The ISS is one of the most ambitious international collaborations in human history.
Nations involved
- The ISS programme is a joint project between five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA (Japan), ESA (Europe), and CSA (Canada).
- The ownership and use of the space station is established by intergovernmental treaties and agreements.
- The station is divided into two sections, the Russian Orbital Segment (ROS) and the United States Orbital Segment (USOS), which is shared by many nations.
- ISS is the ninth space station to be inhabited by crews, following the Soviet and later Russian Salyut, Almaz, and Mir stations as well as Skylab from the US.
Indian Space Station
- Recently, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced its plan to set up India’s own space station after successfully launching its first manned mission ( Gaganyaan mission) by December 2021.
- It will weigh around 20 tonnes and house astronauts for about 15 to 20 days in a 400km low earth orbit.
- A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an orbit around Earth with an altitude above Earth’s surface from 160 kms to 2,000 kilometers.
Significance of Space Stations
- They are useful for collecting meaningful scientific data, especially for biological experiments.
- They help in doing a lot of scientific studies on the various aspects of the space.
- Space stations are used to study the effects of long-term space flight on the human body.
